Starhawk Read Online Free

PRISCILLA sat frozen while Benny explained. “They were on the surface, doing fieldwork, when their AI alerted them that they weren’t alone. She told them there was a spacecraft in the area that did not fit any known configuration. And that it was approaching.”
    â€œMy God,” said Jake.
    â€œDo you want me to put the pertinent sections on-screen?”
    The vehicle had been considerably larger than the
Forscher
. It was enormous. Probably three kilometers long, its hull black and smooth. They could see illuminated ports, including an area that had to be the bridge.
We ran for the shuttle,
Simmons wrote.
Ten minutes after we got back inside the ship, they were on the radio. Strange-sounding voices. Not human. Nothing like us. But we responded. We said hello, and I’ll admit I used the friendliest tone I could come up with. They answered. One of them did. Don’t know what it said. Though it wasn’t hard to guess.
    â€œYou know,” said Jake, “there should be a complete record of this on the
Forscher
. Pictures, the radio transmissions, everything. We’re going to have to find the ship.”
    â€œThat won’t be easy out here,” said Priscilla.
    She kept her eyes on the screen: During the course of the first day, the AIs learned to communicate with each other. Greetings back and forth. The alien vessel was an explorer from a distant place. Trelawney, apparently beside himself with exhilaration, pointed out that
Forscher
also meant “explorer.”
    They got a quick reply: “There is little to do out here other than explore.”
    The aliens had a sense of humor. And another question: “Would you allow us to visit your home world?”
    Nobody on board the
Forscher
thought that would be a good idea. There was no way to know the intentions of the visitors.
Above our grade level,
Simmons commented. They didn’t dare reveal Earth’s location.
    The visitors replied:
We understand.
    When Trelawney asked where they were from, they also showed reluctance, and would say only that they’d crossed the galaxy.
We have come a great distance.
    And the biologist gave the same response.
We understand.
    They talked for several days. Simmons and Trelawney both visited the alien vehicle. Apparently, Kobayashi passed on the opportunity. Several of the aliens came aboard the
Forscher
, after the pilot had arranged a trigger that would overload and blow the drive unit—which was to say everything—if a problem developed. “He doesn’t say what they looked like,” said Priscilla.
    Jake shrugged. “The AI probably has all kinds of pictures. I wonder,” he continued, “if that’s what created the problem going home? Rigging the ship to explode, just in case? When he disconnected, Kobayashi may have overlooked something.”
    â€œCould you do that to us?” asked Priscilla. “Rig us to explode?”
    â€œIt wouldn’t be that hard.”
    After a week, it ended. The aliens were moving on.
But,
said Trelawney,
we should arrange to meet again. Maybe, given some time, we can get permission to invite you to come to the home system. Though, to be honest, I think that may be unlikely. I suspect there would be political problems. But we have people who would very much want to meet you. It would be a start.
    Simmons quoted one of the aliens:
We would like that.
    But how to do it?
    Kobayashi pointed out that two of the planets in the Talios system, the fifth and sixth, would line up in the “near future.”
“When they do,”
he suggested,
“perhaps we could arrange to be here with those who would like to take this farther.”
    Â * * * 
    JAKE WAS GETTING frustrated. “Damn it,” he said. “Are they talking about a few weeks or what?”
    â€œApparently the
Forscher
never reported the incident. Or if they did, it was kept quiet. “
    Benny broke in: “Simmons says that they